Observation home jailhouse for inmates

 

The adult convicts, even those implicated in serious crimes like murder and rape, are allowed to spend at least a couple of hours outside.

 

But the under-18 inmates of the Observation Home, most of them hauled up for as grave an offence as theft, are incarcerated inside the airless two-room house 24x7. 

 

“The sun and the moon exist only in the imagination of the boys,” the caretaker added.  

 

According to child rights activist Seema Bhaskar, children should be kept occupied with multiple activities.

 

“If they are not given space for active physical and social recreation, no child can ever be happy,” Ms Bhaskar said.  

 

A Social Justice official said that gardening was introduced for inmates in the home. It seems to have been abandoned.

 

The place is now overgrown with weeds, a clear sign that gardening had stopped long back. 

 

A former caretaker at the Home said that the caretakers were unwilling to take the risk of allowing the children outside. 

 

“The fear of children using the chance to run away persists even though top officials had consistently stated that inmates should be unlocked and left outside for a few hours even if it meant that they could jump out,” the former caretaker said. 

 

Observation Home is a place where children in conflict with law are placed before the juvenile court passes judgement. 

 

The Juvenile Justice Act says that trial of children charged with criminal offences should not extend beyond four months. There are at least two inmates who have been in the Home for nearly a year. 

 

“It is only on Saturdays that cases under Juvenile Justice Act are taken. So it is only natural that things drag on,” the Social Justice official said.